LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Lawyers for Arkansas inmates condemned to die Thursday in a planned double execution insist they are innocent and one of them says advanced DNA techniques could show he didn’t kill a woman in 1993. Their strategy to win stays of execution is in marked contrast to the first two inmates … Continue reading
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Attorneys for several Virginia inmates want to forbid the state from reinstating more restrictive conditions on death row. The inmates’ lawyers urged a federal appeals court on Wednesday to revive their lawsuit against the Virginia Department of Corrections so that a lower court can decide whether the previous conditions on death … Continue reading
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Music created by inmates at one of South Carolina’s most dangerous prisons was making its way to the White House on Wednesday, thanks to a group of musicians affiliated with Carnegie Hall. Three musicians from Decoda, a nonprofit organization that promotes music as rehabilitation for inmates were scheduled to perform a … Continue reading
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia prisoner who killed two people during an escape was improperly denied a chance to show that he wouldn’t do it again if spared the death penalty, his lawyer told a federal appeals court Tuesday. Attorney Jonathan P. Sheldon said the trial judge should have allowed an expert witness to … Continue reading
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — The probable mastermind in the brazen escape of three inmates from a California jail had help from a woman whose English classes he was taking while locked up, authorities allege. Escapee Hussein Nayeri, 37, came to know Nooshafarin Ravaghi, 44, during an English as a second language course inside the … Continue reading
LOS ANGELES (AP) — It was a daring and elaborate escape. Three inmates, including a man suspected in a killing, cut through metal, crawled through plumbing tunnels, climbed a roof and rappelled down four stories to freedom using ropes made from bedsheets. It wasn’t a Hollywood movie. The real-life breakout left authorities struggling Monday to … Continue reading
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis washed the feet of 12 inmates and a baby at Rome’s main prison Thursday in a pre-Easter ritual meant to show his willingness to serve. He asked them to pray that he, too, might be cleansed of his “filth.” As the inmates wept, Francis knelt down, poured water from a … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 